The election of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as president of Nigeria has thrown up some interesting topics, one of which is the fate of those opposed to his ambition, especially in Yorubaland. As someone who critiqued the Tinubu ambition his ardent fanatics are already on my case. Tinubu, APC candidate, was declared winner of the February 25, 2023, presidential election. That was at 4.05 am on Wednesday, February 28. A very close friend, who is more or less a relation, called me at about 4.48 am. He had called about three times before I picked the call as I was sleeping. This is what he said to me: “Now that Tinubu has been declared winner, where will you run to”? I struggled out of sleep to respond. I don’t want to publish my response, but it was harsh because we had had very ‘strong’ political arguments on the ‘appropriateness’ or otherwise of my stance on his deity, Tinubu. I had stomached his invectives in the past. In one of his responses to my column before the election, he told me that only a “Yoruba bastard” would not support Tinubu. Even when I told him the inappropriateness of that phrase, he was not remorseful. He said worse things later in our subsequent interactions on the matter. So, that post-election call was the height of it, for me. He wondered what I just said. I repeated exactly the words. He called me some unprintable names and subsequently terminated the call before blocking me on all platforms.
My attention was equally drawn to another post by someone I do not know. He wrote, in a photo-frame post thus: “How far with those Yooba Nesan writers (Yoruba Nation) in Tribune? Festus Adedayo, Suyi Ayodele, Lasisi Olagunju? They’ll soon be hunting for appointments o”. I smiled, especially with the emoji the person used as background. I confess here. This particular post gives me utmost joy. I have a sense of self-fulfillment. So, the Emilokan apologists read what I write? Ogo ni fun Olorun – Glory be to God. Look at the identikit description above, “Yooba Nesan Writers”. Who, among the truly freeborn Yoruba persons, with clear cut ancestry, will not be happy to defend Yoruba cause and aspirations? Who would not be proud to be listed among those who champion the Yoruba ethos of supporting that which is noble, just, fair, and equitable? Anyone who holds a contrary definition of the Yoruba race needs to undergo paternity test.
Before I close on the unfortunate two, let me say this: not everyone’s life can be measured in terms of Naira and Kobo. Not everyone runs away from the battlefield. Some of us were raised in environments where we were taught not to join the company of the despicable. Besides, God has been kind to me, and I know what I want at any time! I am not out of job at the moment. And if there is the need for me to change batons, I have my personal parameters on who I will join, work for or with. I don’t have anything personal with Tinubu or against him. I have never met him in person. Whatever I might have written, and will write about him, were and will be purely on how I feel about his style of politics. His presidency, will be assessed based on its outputs. I have resolved to stand firmly with the people.
How does anyone reason that because a candidate emerged winner of a contest, everyone who did not support his aspiration is in ‘trouble’? I asked a question on this page last week. In fact, the headline of my immediate reaction to the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections was a question that I left hanging (Nigeria on the path of rebirth?). I was deliberate in not answering that question. How many people ‘elected’ Tinubu as president? Just eight million, seven hundred and ninety-four thousand, seven hundred and twenty-six Nigerians (8,794,726). How many people rejected him at the poll? Sixteen million, four hundred and ninety-one thousand, eight hundred and ninety (16,491,890) persons did. So, how many of that figure will go on ‘exile’?
I promised myself, I would not get into the analysis of the election, irrespective of the outcome. A veteran broadcaster, Tony Abolo, while responding to my column used a phrase that reinforced my resolve. He described Nigeria as “unworking Nigeria”! He added that he had stopped “worrying” about “an unworking Nigeria”. I said to myself, I would do the same for the election.
Victory is relative. If Tinubu rules well, all of us will enjoy it. If he does otherwise, the portions will equally go round in almost equal measure. If heaven falls, we all become victims. Haven’t we all been the ultimate victims of Buhari’s rule? The nation was lost long ago.
Tinubu lost Lagos, his base and a state that has been in his vice grip for decades, I celebrated the resilience of the people. Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State could not win a single seat or the presidential election for his PDP in spite of the 1.5 million votes he promised, I hailed the sophistication of Edo politics and its people. Samuel Ortom, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu of the infamous G5 governors of the catastrophic PDP lost their senatorial ambitions and I said: when a knife destroys its pouch, it invariably destroys its home. Ben Ayade lost in Cross River. I knew that crying on national television does not win elections. The APC National Chairman, Abdulahi Adamu and the DG of the party’s campaign council, who doubles as the governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, lost their states and I asked if they had ever won any election! General Muhammadu Buhari voted and showed the electorate waiting to vote his ballot and who he voted for in clear violation of the laws of the exercise and I was not moved? Why? Buhari, “to the best of my ignorance”, has never obeyed any law. When eventually he lost Katsina State, I laughed. Why, again? My people say: eke nba eke soro, iro npa’ro fun iro – falsehood talks to falsehood, lie lies to lie. I would like to end this with the saying of my people. “Èfó hí lé’fó l’aáhò” (one vegetable does not chase out another from the cooking pot.
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